JPH0338834Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a facet aligner used to align the facets of a large number of wafers housed in a wafer carrier.

<Prior Art> FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a conventional facet aligner 30 mounted on a wafer carrier 20, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of this facet aligner 30.

The wafer carrier 20 has an open surface 20a at the top (in the front and back directions of the paper in FIG. 3).
It has a long rectangular parallelepiped shape, and its opposing walls 20b, 20
A large number of pairs of notches 21a and 21b, which serve as receiving grooves 21, . . . , are formed on the inside of c. Then, one wafer 10, . . . is stored in each of these receiving grooves 21, .

The wafers 10, . , and its facet 11,... is wafer carrier 2
It is necessary to align them parallel to the open surface 20a of 0.

Therefore, wafer 1 in wafer carrier 20
Correct the posture of 0,... and change its facet 1
1, . . . in a predetermined direction, a facet aligner 30 has conventionally been used.

The facet aligner 30 is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.
As shown in the figure, it has a rectangular parallelepiped frame 31 that is open at the top and bottom. Inside the frame 31, there is an aligner roller 33 that is long along the long side 31a direction, and a drive roller 34 that presses the aligner roller 33 and drives it to rotate.
are installed above and below.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the facet aligner 30 is fitted onto the wafer carrier 20 and then turned upside down.

In this state, by rotating the drive roller 34 from the outside, the
Each wafer 10, . . . is rotated. and,
When the facets 11, . . . of each wafer 10, .
1, . . . and the aligner roller 33, each wafer 10, . . . stops rotating at that position. In this way, each wafer 10, . . . in the wafer carrier 20 is aligned with its facet 11, .

<Problems to be solved by the invention> By the way, in such a facet aligner, each wafer 10, ... or aligner roller 3
3, the facets 11, . . . of each wafer 10, . . . often travel too far on the aligner roller 33 without stopping. In that case, all wafers 1
There was a problem in that the aligner roller 33 had to be rotated many times until 0, . . . stopped, and this work took time and effort.

Therefore, in order to solve such problems,
The applicant of the present invention filed an earlier application in 1983-
No. 78645 (Utility Model Application No. 61-195060) discloses a rotation preventing member 35 which stops the rotation of the wafer 10 by coming into contact with the facets 11, . . . of the wafer 10, .
The present invention proposes a facet aligner 30 that is fixedly attached in a direction along the axial direction of an aligner roller 33.

With such a configuration, when the center portion of the facets 11, . . . of each rotated wafer 10, . It comes into contact with the member 35 and is stopped. Therefore, all the wafers 10, . . . can be stopped in substantially the predetermined orientation and in a short time.

However, even in the facet aligner 30 provided with the rotation blocking member 35 fixed, each wafer 1
There was a problem in that it was difficult to align the orientations of the facets 11, . . . 0, .
This is because the cut dimensions of the facets 11, . The aligner roller 33 for the wafers 10, .
This is due to the change in the relative positional relationship between the rotation preventing member 35 and the rotation preventing member 35.

That is, for example, the rotation preventing member 35 of the facet aligner 30 according to the earlier application is attached to the wafer 10,
If the rotation blocking member 35 is located far from the wafer 10,..., the rotation blocking member 35 will deviate from the rotation locus of the facet 11,... and will no longer function as a rotation blocking member, or if the rotation blocking member 35 is too close to the wafer 10,... too,
Since the circumferential portion of the wafer 10, . . . is received, the rotation preventing function is no longer achieved.

The present invention was developed in view of these problems, and it is capable of stopping the rotation of each wafer in a wafer carrier in a short period of time, and of adjusting the orientation of the facets even if the cut dimensions of the facets are different. To provide a facet aligner that can surely align in a predetermined direction.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a rotation prevention member that comes into contact with the facet of the wafer and stops the rotation of the wafer along the axial direction of the aligner roller. The present invention is characterized by a structure in which the rotation blocking member can be freely moved toward and away from the wafer and fixed.

<Function> According to the above configuration, when the center of the facet of each wafer rotated according to the rotation of the aligner roller is located on the aligner roller, one end of this facet comes into contact with the rotation blocking member. come into contact with This causes each wafer to stop with its facet in a predetermined orientation. in this case,
By adjusting the mounting position of the rotation blocking member, the rotation blocking member can be reliably brought into contact with the facet of each wafer.

<Example> Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on an example shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a facet aligner according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the facet aligner mounted on a wafer carrier and inverted. Incidentally, the facet aligner of the present invention is basically not different from that of the conventional example.
Therefore, in FIGS. 1 and 2, the third
Portions corresponding to those in the figure and FIG. 4 are given the same reference numerals.

In these figures, reference numeral 10 denotes a wafer, which is formed in the shape of a flat disk and has a chord-shaped edge portion, ie, a facet 11, of a predetermined length in a portion thereof. The wafers 10 are arranged in the thickness direction in units of units and stored in the wafer carrier 20. This wafer carrier 20 has the same configuration as the conventional example,
The explanation thereof will be omitted here.

The facet aligner 30 is the wafer carrier 20
It is used by being attached to an open surface 20a formed above, and includes a long rectangular parallelepiped frame 31 that is open at the top and bottom. Above both long sides 31a, 31a of this frame 31, a pair of protrusions 32, 32, which fit into the open surface of the wafer carrier 20, are formed facing each other.
Further, inside this frame 31, there are an aligner roller 33 that slides on and rotates the wafer 10, and a drive roller 34 that presses this aligner roller 33 and drives it to rotate. , 31b so as to be rotatable.

The aligner roller 33 has a roller portion 33b provided over almost the entire length of a rotating shaft 33a, and the upper end of the roller portion 33b in the radial direction is positioned at approximately the same height as the upper surface 31c of the frame 31. . Further, the drive roller 34 is connected to the rotary drive shaft 3
A rubber roll 35 is provided at the longitudinal center of the frame 4a, and operating knobs 36 are attached to both ends of a rotary drive shaft 34a that penetrates the frame 31 and projects to the outside.

In addition, in the frame 31 on one side of the aligner roller 33, in a direction along the axial direction of the aligner roller 33, a short side portion 31b of the frame 31,
A rotation preventing member 40 is installed across the space 31b. The rotation prevention member 40 is made of a plate material having a rectangular cross section, for example, and both end surfaces of the rotation prevention member 40 are connected to both short sides 31b and 3 of the frame 31.
1b, respectively. Frame 31 with which each end surface of rotation prevention member 40 abuts
Both short sides 31b, 31b have an upper surface 31c.
Elongated holes 31d and 31d facing toward are formed respectively.

The rotation blocking member 40 has a long hole 31d,...
It is fixed by fixing tools 41, such as screws, inserted into the. Therefore, this rotation prevention member 40
is movable and fixed to the upper surface 31c of the frame 31, that is, to the side of each wafer 10, . . . in the wafer carrier 20. Note that the rotation blocking member 40 may be installed on both sides of the aligner roller 33, and its cross-sectional shape is not limited to a rectangle, but may be circular or the like.

Next, the procedure for using such facet aligner 30 will be explained.

A facet aligner 30 is installed on the open surface of the wafer carrier 20 in which a large number of wafers 10, . . . are housed.
The pair of protrusions 32, 32 formed in the ridges are fitted together and installed, and as shown in FIG. 2, it is turned upside down. By reversing, each wafer 10, . . . in the wafer carrier 20 is received and supported on an aligner roller 32 provided inside the facet aligner 30. In this state, when the drive roller 34 is rotated in one predetermined direction (clockwise in the figure) from either side of the operating knobs 36, 36, the aligner roller 33 is rotated in the opposite direction. Each wafer 1 is
0, . . . are rotated in the same direction as the drive roller 34. In addition, when the rotation prevention member 40 is installed on both sides of the aligner roller 33, the rotation direction of the operating knob may be either clockwise or counterclockwise.

Then, facet 1 of each wafer 10,...
1,... begin rolling contact with the aligner roller 33, and when, for example, the center portion of this facet 11 passes over the aligner roller 33, one end of these facets 11,... comes into contact with the rotation blocking member 40. come into contact with This ensures that slippage occurs between the facets 11, . . . and the aligner rollers 33, and further rotation of each wafer 10, . Therefore, each wafer 10, . . . is stopped for a short time, and its facets 11, .

At this time, by adjusting the position of the rotation blocking member 40 by moving it far from or near each wafer 10, the rotation blocking member 40 can be moved toward the aligner roller 33.
Each wafer 1 is accurately positioned and stopped on the side of the
It becomes possible to make the orientation of the facets 11, . . . 0, . . . horizontal.

In this way, after the postures of the wafers 10, .
Remove 0. Therefore, the wafer carrier 20
Facet 1 of wafer 10, ... stored in
1, . . . are aligned upward, and their facets 11, . Therefore, these wafers 10,
... can be extracted individually and subjected to subsequent processes without any problems.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, according to the present invention, a rotation prevention member that stops the rotation of the wafer by coming into contact with the facet of the wafer is provided on the side of the aligner roller in the facet aligner in the axial direction of the aligner roller. Since the rotation blocking member can be moved near and far from the wafer side and fixed, the rotation of the wafer stored in the wafer carrier can be stopped in a short time, and it can also be used to prevent differences in facet cut dimensions and aligner rollers. Despite wear, it is possible to ensure that the wafer facets are oriented in the correct horizontal direction, ie parallel to the open surface of the wafer carrier.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 relate to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a facet aligner, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a facet aligner;
The figure is a sectional view showing the facet aligner mounted on a wafer carrier and inverted.
3 and 4 relate to a conventional example, with FIG. 3 being a sectional view of a facet aligner mounted on a wafer carrier, and FIG. 4 being a perspective view of this facet aligner. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Wafer, 11... Wafer facet, 20... Wafer carrier, 20a... Open surface of wafer carrier, 30... Facet aligner, 33... Aligner roller, 40... Rotation blocking member.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A large number of wafers are mounted on the open surface of a wafer carrier, and the wafers are rotated by aligner rollers so that the facets of each wafer are phased in a direction parallel to the open surface. In the facet aligner for aligning, a rotation blocking member that comes into contact with the facet of the wafer to stop the rotation of the wafer is disposed along the axial direction of the aligner roller, and the rotation blocking member is moved closer to or closer to the wafer side. A facet aligner characterized by being movable and fixed.